Rice instructor killed on Main was a rising star

Updated 7:38 am, Thursday, June 21, 2012

Jennifer Young came to Rice in 2010 with degrees from Delaware and North Carolina.

Jennifer Young came to Rice in 2010 with degrees from Delaware and North Carolina.

Photo: Rice University

Rice instructor killed on Main was a rising star

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Every part of Jennifer Young's life, it seemed, glowed with achievement and promise.

This fall, the 30-year-old postdoctoral instructor was to begin the last year of a prestigious fellowship at Rice University after completing her doctorate in applied mathematics. In about a year, she would be a full-fledged professor, having recently accepted a tenure-track position at another university.

Another milestone was even closer: In about two months, Young and her husband were expecting the birth of their first child.

But on Tuesday, everything changed.

While doing the most routine of things - crossing a street - Young was hit by a car as she walked to the Rice campus.

Later that afternoon, Young died. At last report, her newborn was in critical condition.

"It seemed like the stars were perfectly aligned for her," said Rice professor Steve Cox, who was the principal investigator on the grant that brought Young to the university's Computational and Applied Mathematics Department almost two years ago. "It's just tragic."

Houston police said Young was crossing the 6300 block of Main Street, near Hermann Park and the university, around 9:20 a.m. She was struck by a gray Acura traveling south on Main that had just passed through a green light, police said.

Grim announcement

The driver of the car next to the Acura stopped in the intersection, but the Acura continued, striking Young, police said. The Acura's driver stopped at the scene, and was later questioned and released; police said their investigation is continuing.

The professor's husband, Gavan Young, was too grief-stricken to be interviewed Wednesday.

Matthias Heinkenschloss, the chairman of computational and applied mathematics, announced Young's death in a letter to faculty, staff and students. The letter mourned the loss of a woman described as talented and accomplished with a bright future.

At Rice she continued that work, teaching and participating in mathematics outreach programs with high school students.

In his letter to the Rice community, Heinkenschloss said the bond Young had built with her students brought her some of the best teaching evaluations in the department's history.

Also did research

Young, who specialized in mathematical biology, also participated in research. She spent significant time establishing a working collaboration with scientists at the Texas Medical Center, where she likely had been the morning of the crash, Cox said.